Politics

Lankford Won’t Support Electoral College Vote Without New Election Probe

Report

U. S. Sen. James Lankford announced Saturday that he will oppose the Electoral College vote this week making Joe Biden the next president unless concerns about voting in some states are investigated and resolved by a special commission.

The Oklahoma Republican said “questions still persist” about alleged voting irregularities and should be pursued despite the fact that they have been dismissed by state and federal courts.

Lankford announced that he had joined an effort by Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz to have a special commission appointed to investigate claims. The commission would be required to meet and complete an audit within 10 days, which would be before the Jan. 20 inauguration, Lankford said. A total of 11 current and incoming senators were part of a news released issued by Cruz.

“If we can agree to form the electoral commission and submit its findings to the individual states, I am prepared to respect the final decision of the states,” Lankford said.

“But, if we cannot agree to hear the concerns of millions of Americans, I am prepared to oppose the electors on January 6 since I cannot be certain that they were ‘regularly made,’ which is the statutory requirement.”

In an interview, Lankford acknowledged the effort was a “Hail Mary pass.”

“But it’s to try to get some information out to try to bring the country together,” he said.

He said he was trying to address the concerns of people who are truly interested in pursuing questions about alleged irregularities, not those who have made their minds up one way or the other.

Alicia Andrews, chair of the Oklahoma Democratic Party, said Lankford’s claims that such an effort would boost faith in the system were “gibberish.”

“What it is doing is further eroding the belief in the system,” Andrews said Saturday. “They’re disputing something that has been challenged, challenged, challenged all the way up to the Supreme Court. And it’s been thrown out. One more challenge is going to find the thing that they haven’t found before? I don’t think so and neither do they.”